Thoughts On The Lighting In This Pair Of D300 Photos?

[whoz_the_man_huh]

<p>Ron, I'm brand new to Capture NX. I'm embarrassed to admit I've never used it for anything other than RAW conversion, and pretty much don't even know where to start learning.</p>

[whoz_the_man_huh]

<p>Dan, you're right. The composition of the second photo is certainly less dull.</p>

[jose_angel]

<p>The light is correct to me, the pics are nice, perhaps a bit of retouching could help. No need of fill flash. I agree in some part with Milo.<br>

What I miss is about composition. Background is too distracting, framing is "open" or I should say, it`s no framing.<br>

Let me try it on your second pic (all in NX2- darkening, selective sharpening, a bit of color change):</p><div></div>

[walterh]

<p>"To be quite honest I prefer the originals and think all the other attempts look over processed and unnatural."</p>

<p>I think this is a good indication that there is nothing seriously wrong with the original image from a technical point of view. Actually the soft diffuse light is always helpful to keep the dynamic range withing the capability of the sensor. This makes post processing easier.</p>

<p>The processed images show two things:</p>

<p>1) One can do a whole lot with post processing if the original image contains a lot of data. The required skill in post processing needs a bit of learning :-) We can clearly see that from the recipe above, this work-flow is clearly not the result of a one day fiddling. Post processing can change the "message" of an image dramatically.<br>

2) If the skill in post processing is used to carry the "right message" to the viewer the image will benefit a lot. The photographer has to define the "right message" :-) (Let me ignore the "over processed" comment as this was probably intended to show the point)</p>

<p>Just a personal comment: Do not let the "public" taste force you to produce "mojo" high contrast high saturation highly sharpened images no matter what the mood of the situation is.</p>

[jose_angel]

<p>"Interpretation" is of course very personal, only the photographer should know if the image is right or not... although it could be extensively discussed. This pic seems more difficult to improve because it`s even more "open" to my taste, is not "round"(I`m so sorry I don`t know how to express this <i>subjective</i> concepts in english)... here I go:</p><div></div>

[pete_s.]

<p>Thanks guys for the kind words. I think Calvin has gotten a lot of good responses in this thread.</p>

<p>What the brain experiences in the scene and what the camera captures is not the same thing so in general I think it's best to decide what kind of images to make before actually clicking the shutter. And then the subject, the background and foreground, the lighting, the framing, the perspective, the depth of field, the post production etc etc will all contribute to achieving the photographers vision.</p>

<p>What direction to take is up to the photographer. I'll give you a different interpretation on the second image where I tried to make it much lighter and softer in feel with subdued colors.</p>

<p> </p><div></div>

[stwrtertbsratbs5]

<p>Here's a minor adjustment in NX 2. I placed a control point on her face and increased brightness simply to draw attention to her face. You have a good exposure, and that gives you plenty of latitude for interpretation.</p><div></div>

[whoz_the_man_huh]

<p>Jose, I agree that the framing can appear loose. However, how could I have made it tighter while preserving the length of the - to me anyway - interesting diagonal?</p>

[whoz_the_man_huh]

<p>Walter, right, Pete's recipe is not exactly scrambled eggs and ham - or anything else a cook can follow unless he's spent a few years in a gourmet kitchen.</p>

[whoz_the_man_huh]

<p>Pete, indeed I've received invaluable feedback as well as personal interpretations of my photo. The latter were especially pleasant surprises.</p>

<p>Thanks everyone, for contributing to what makes photo.net the best photography address on the web.</p>

 

[jose_angel]

<p>I think the diagonal is perfect... I wanted to mean something similar to the effect of vignetting, where attention slide from the darker areas to the brighter ones, where the important subject is. I usually like to darken the sides of the pic and/or neutralize brighter areas to achieve this effect.</p>

<p>The same effect is given by Pete (with better expertise) but with the opposite way (which I probably prefer here); that background "framing" is inverse. I this case the subject is surrounded with a soft lighter background that makes the viewer to concentrate on the subject.<br /> It`s nice to see how others "interpret" the same pic.</p>

[jose_angel]

<p>Just for fun...</p><div></div>

[whoz_the_man_huh]

<p>Thanks, Jose.</p>

<p>I too love the "angelic pure innocence" aura Pete has going on in his interpretation, which almost passes as a pink-tinged vision of heaven.</p>

[oskar_ojala]

<p>Do the post processing. A good lens with a large aperture can help to make the subject pop even more, then do selective sharpening and local contrast improvement and you might want to very slightly darken some areas. BTW, I hate obvious fake vignettes.<br>

Artificial lighting can do many interesting things, but it's better to work on the basics first.</p>

[jennifer_spencer]

<p>I too prefer the originals. She has a such a lovely skin tone that you have captured in the original - the post processing options take away from that smooth porcelain skin. As said earlier, there is no need to go for "pop" because it's popular. Sometimes subtle is fine.</p>

<p>I think that a reflector would done a good job, even on an overcast day, and it would have helped with the shadows on her face around the mouth and eyes. Reflectors harness a surprising amount of light. It would have removed the under-eye shadows and if you chose gold, it could have warmed her up. Sometimes the gold looks cheesy, but on a day this cold, I think it could go either way. Reflectors are not always easy to work with if you have no assistance, but if you had a friend handy, the reflector would have helped. The plaid shirt she is wearing is distracting. it might have been better to have her in something with a subtler pattern, but if it was a spontaneous shot, there's not much you can do about that.</p>

[whoz_the_man_huh]

<p>Thanks for the advice, Jennifer.</p>

<p>I guess it all just depends, as many have suggested, on one's intentions. Both the original and processed versions could have much to say to an audience.</p>

[il_f]

<p>Calvin,<br>

Wanted to try some photoshop adjustments. Here is my take. Beautiful model, BTW. Hopefully, I will be able to upload the image</p><div></div>

[whoz_the_man_huh]

<p>Thanks, ILF.</p>

<p>After Pete mentioned curves I tried playing with them but didn't have much of an idea about what I was supposed to be doing. I like your take.</p>

[Paul Lewis1664881697]

<p>Forget all that photoshop mumbo jumbo.... simple suggestion.... shoot on a sunny day during golden hour (about an hour before sunset) and position your model accordingly.</p>

[whoz_the_man_huh]

<p>But Photoshop mumbo jumbo makes major mojo.</p>

[david_ralph1]

<p>What was white balance set to? Automatic, which is a bit of a roll of the dice? Try cloudy, or even sunny when outdoors like this. They are usually better than automatic white balance and I think you will see a little pop. This is easy to experiment with in Capture NX since you still have the raw file. The other thing to do is to move the left part of of the histogram, for black, to the to left portion of where the data begins. Simple, and it does not require much knowledge of curving graphs, etc.</p>

<p> </p>

[whoz_the_man_huh]

<p>Thanks, David. The white balance was set to cloudy.</p>

[woodbyte]

<p>I use 2 programs to edit images. Lightroom 1 for basic adjustments and archiving, as I always shoot in RAW. For layers and more complicated "stuff" I use Paint Shop Pro 9, which was about $150 (ie much cheaper than photoshop). Admittedly much less functionality, but all I need anyhow.</p>

<p>If you are not willing to learn a whole new skill of image editing then in PSP9 there's a wonderful button called ONE STEP PHOTO FIX. It runs through a whole set of "often used" adjustments: contrast, sharpness, saturation, etc.</p>

<p>It so easy - just press one button. I've rarely found a jpeg that it doesn't work a little bit of magic on.</p>

<p>Probably get shouted at now by all the professionals, but if you're not interested in spending hours and days to learn what all the sliders do, it's a quick way to add a bit of punch. Took me less than one second to find and press the button....</p><div></div>

[jbm]

<p>Pete's retouch is great. It does not look overprocessed at all. Ilkka's works well, too.<br>

Jay</p>

[sketch_tbhotmail.com]

<p>Just for the sake of experimentation, here's my take... perhaps a little too much pp but its a matter of opinion I guess.</p><div></div>